Your Positive Oasis

The Power Of Affirmations

The Power Of Affirmations

We all know what it means to “affirm” something: The dictionary definition of an affirmation is ‘an act of saying or showing that something is true.’ However, not all of us know or understand the concept or true power of affirmations.

Many people shrug them off as strange mantras some people use to calm their nerves, or mentally prepare themselves for something. And while this is true of affirmations, they actually go far beyond that, as they can really change our everyday lives, not just for those ‘big’ moments, but the possible outcome and your attitude of every passing day.

A Closer Look At The Power Of Affirmations.

Affirmations as you now know are declarative statements that you are labelling to be true. Let’s say that you looked at yourself in the mirror tomorrow, and repeated to yourself with total belief; ‘I am feeling totally positive and confident about myself.’ Affirming it would allow you to take that positive feeling with you through the entire day. For someone who struggles with low self-esteem, or doesn’t typically like the way that they feel, allowing yourself to believe a statement like that can make a big difference in how you feel for the rest of your day. You are actually declaring the affirmation not only to yourself, but also to the universe!

Affirmations are not necessarily goals, and they are not just things that we say to ourselves to trick our brains into thinking something about ourselves that isn’t true. They actually help to send messages to our brain, letting us know what we need to do in order to become the declarations that we have said out loud.

What Can Affirmations Do?

Some people swear by the power of affirmations, and for others, it can take some time to get used to the idea of repeating a sort of ‘mantra’ over and over again and expect to see results. There are a few essential steps that you need to take if you are new to the power of affirmations:

First, decide on the transformation that you are looking for. This could be anything from improving your health, (ie: “I feel fit and healthy today,” to having more confidence, (ie: “I am feeling powerful, confident, energetic, and on top of the world.).

If you don’t have a particular transformation goal in mind, what kind of attitudes, or characteristics would you like to further develop within yourself? Using affirmations does not necessarily mean that you want to ‘change’ something from bad to good. It can also mean that you are looking to make a good quality you already like about yourself even better!

A lot of people find more success when they add an emotion into their affirmation, allowing them to connect with, and actually feel the emotion as they say it (ie: “I am feeling happy to go to my job today.”)

Always make your affirmations positive, instead of focusing on any negative aspects, even if they come from the past. The point is to develop positive habits instead of even considering the idea of looking back on where you might have come from. While that can be effective in other ways, including self-reflection, it is important to keep affirmations positive and uplifting.

In reality, every single thought that you have is a sort of affirmation – or, self-talk. The problem arises in the fact that we have been self-talking since we were children, and we don’t always learn how to talk to ourselves in a positive and productive way. That might seem silly to some, but you are affirming everything in your life through the experiences you have, and through self-talk. Maybe you went for a job interview once that didn’t go so well, and your thought was something like, “I hate interviews.” It’s not that job interviews in general are bad, or that you don’t like job interviews, it just might be that one particular job interview did not go as well as you had hoped. But, by using self-talk like that over and over again throughout our lives, which can be more detrimental than helpful. You may have the idea that you hate job interviews forever, and in reality, it is just not true.

Working Affirmations Into Your Day

If you are interested in the power of affirmations, and you want to try them for yourself, an easy way to get started is by bringing them into your morning and night-time routine. This way, they become more of a habit, and less of a ‘chore’ that you have to think about. Decide on your affirmations, and say them to yourself in the bathroom as you are getting ready in the morning or before you go to bed at night. You can decide how many times you would like to repeat your phrase, but a minimum of three times is best.

It usually takes a few days before your affirmations really ‘sink in,’ which might be frustrating at first, but once you stick with it for a few days, the habits you are forming in declaring something to be true will be more powerful than you can possibly realize.

I like to start and end each day by reading the 21 Powerful Affirmations that I have included at the bottom of this article. These powerful messages are the perfect way to start and end each day, and are perfect for putting you into a positive, confident mindset.

I then say four or five personal affirmations out loud in front of the mirror. “What?” You might say. Trust me, when I started saying my affirmations in front of the mirror, I noticed something happen straight away. While speaking, I began to stand straighter, speak with more confidence, smile and feel much more enthusiastic and confident in myself.

When you create your own affirmations and say them out loud in front of the mirror with passion, belief and enthusiasm, it becomes a powerful way of super charging yourself both mentally and physically.

A great exercise is to get a blank piece of paper and write the title Areas To Work On; you need to write down what areas of your life you want to change or improve. This is a wonderful time for some self-reflection and honesty with yourself. You might write down for example:

Have more self-confidence.

Have more belief in myself.

Have more compassion.

Take more action.

Show more gratitude.

Improve my health.

Be a better spouse.

Have less stress.

Be happier.

On another blank page you need to take what you have written from the Areas to Work On list and put them into positive specific statements under the title Daily Affirmations. Use the present tense as if the change or improvement that you are seeking has already happened to you. Use short powerful sentences that are easy to remember. Remember, these are your affirmations, the more that they come from you and that you feel totally passionate about them, the stronger and more powerful that they will be.

Remember, to make your affirmations extra powerful, repeat them in front of the mirror in the morning and in the evening as a part of your daily routine. Say them with total belief, confidence and with passion. Talking to yourself in front of the mirror might feel unusual at first, but I promise you the feeling is great. You will instantly feel better both physically and mentally.

Click on the image below for 21 powerful affirmations that I hope will make significant changes to your daily life.

You may like

6 Reasons Why You Should Create A Bucket List

The term ‘bucket list’ has become quite popular in recent years. It has been used in pop culture references and as a casual topic of conversation when someone wants to do something. Chances are, you have heard someone say, “Oh, that’s on my bucket list!” But, a bucket list is more than just a fantasy, an out of reach dream or an excuse to say that you want to do many things, only to never follow through on them.

There are actually many benefits to creating a bucket list, if you just put in the time, the thought and the dedication into it. Making a bucket list is a perfect way to set your life goals and to stay focused on making them a reality.Still not 100% convinced? Let’s take a look at six reasons why you really should create a bucket list. Maybe, by the end of this article, you will be ready to put together one of your very own.

1. It Gives You a Purpose

While putting together a bucket list won’t tell you what the meaning of your life is, it can help to give you a purpose to your life. A bucket list should be more about the major goals that you have for yourself, rather than a bunch of fun little things that you might want to do. A bucket list gives you something to get out of life and allows you to stay focused while you are doing it.

Have you ever been bored, wondering what you’re going to do this weekend to fill up your free time? A bucket list can give you that answer, encouraging you to always work towards the things that you truly want to do and experience in life.

2. It Brings Your Goals to Life

As stated above, a bucket list should be about exciting goals that you have for yourself. But, it is also an opportunity to hone in on those goals. Many people have ambitions and even make goals or resolutions for themselves each year only to be forgotten a few days later. But, when you have a specific list of goals written down, it can help to make you more motivated and focused to achieve them.

Goals are incredibly important to have, and the fact that your bucket list can make those goals clearer and more tangible is really important.

3. You Will Create Lasting Memories

Memories are one of life’s greatest treasures. As you start to accomplish the things on your bucket list, you will also be making wonderful memories each time. Since you are doing the things you really want to do, those memories will bring you comfort, a sense of achievement and give you something positive to look back on and share with others.

4. It Will Pull You Forward

Have you ever been in a “funk” in life, or maybe you have had bouts of feeling down or depressed that have kept you from doing the things you typically enjoy? No one wants to stay in that kind of mindset for long. Because a bucket list can help to give you a sense of purpose, it can also give you the motivation to pull yourself out of a funk. It can call you to do something new, something different, or something that even challenges you. Sometimes, that’s all a person needs to be pulled out of a tired or depressed state.

Additionally, doing something on your bucket list will help to distract you for a while. That can be a great solution for someone who has anxiety or tends to focus too much on the negative things in life. Sometimes, a distraction can be a welcomed reprieve.

5. You Will Experience Life-Long Learning

When you commit yourself to having new experiences, you are also committing yourself to learning something new. So many people think that learning stops when you finish school, but you can learn so much more simply by living and trying more new things throughout your life. People who embrace this type of lifestyle are called “lifelong learners”. The reality is this; you will never be able to learn everything there is to know. But, because all of us have such a short time on this planet to figure things out, the more experiences we participate in, the more that we will learn and grow. Not only can a bucket list help you to learn things about different cultures, skills, situations, people and personalities.

It can also help you to learn more about yourself. Closing your mind off to the idea of lifelong learning will cause you to become stagnant with your thoughts and your growth. As a human being, you should have a desire to continue to grow and achieve as much as you possibly can throughout your life. Working through your bucket list can help you to achieve that.

6. You Will Never Run Out of Things to Do

If you sit down to make a bucket list, you might write down anywhere from 10-100 things that you really want to do. But, it doesn’t have to stop there. Chances are, as you start to work through some of the things on your list, you will come up with more ideas.

Experiencing new things, and even challenging things, is a great way to get inspired and motivated to continue on that trend. A bucket list can truly be never-ending as you come up with more exciting new ideas and goals for yourself.

Building Your Bucket List and Bettering Your Life

There are so many additional reasons why you should create a bucket list for yourself. Remember, a bucket list is a very personal thing, and the experiences you put on the list should be things that you truly want to do or accomplish. Don’t make them so unrealistic that you will never plan on committing to. Instead, promise yourself that you will immerse yourself in those experiences.

A bucket list might be something you create to accomplish things before you pass on, but in creating one and diving into new experiences, there is a good chance you will feel more alive than ever!

8 Ways to Take Care of Yourself Every Day

Self-care is a term that gets thrown around a lot lately, to the point where it’s easy to ignore or blow it off as some kind of “buzz word”. But, it’s so much more than that, and when you are willing to take self-care seriously, you might just start to see how much easier it will be to get through each day.(more…)

The Top 8 Most Important Things in Life

It is easy for people to speculate and debate about the most important things in life. You have probably heard that “the best things in life are free” or that “love is all you need”, but what about what are the most important? What do you really need in this life in order to find contentment and fulfillment?(more…)